LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO Return With Their All-Male Classical Ballet and Comedy Fusion This Month

The world's foremost all-male comic ballet company, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the purpose of presenting a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and "en travesti" (males performing female roles). The Trocks, as they are affectionately known, have quickly become an artistic and popular success, blending their comic approach with a loving knowledge of dance and proving once and for all that men can indeed dance "en pointe" without falling flat on their faces.

CAPA presents Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Monday, January 24, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $21-$35 and can be purchased in-person at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), online at www.capa.com, or by phone at (614) 469-0939.

Les Ballets Trockadero first performed in the late-late shows of Off-Off Broadway lofts. They quickly garnered a major critical essay in The New Yorker, and combined with reviews in The New York Times and The Village Voice, established the company as an artistic and popular success. By mid-1975, the Trocks were being noted beyond New York. Articles and notices in publications such as Variety, Oui, The London Daily Telegraph, as well as a photo essay in Vogue, made the company nationally and internationally known.

Since those beginnings, the Trocks have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world, participating in dance festivals, television appearances, and a documentary. The company has won several awards over the years including best classical repertoire from the prestigious Critic's Circle National Dance Awards (2007, UK), the Theatrical Managers Award (2006, UK), and the Positano Award (2007, Italy) for excellence in dance.

The Trocks numerous tours have been both popular and critical successes, including 10 tours to Australia and New Zealand, 28 to Japan (where their annual summer tours have created a nationwide cult following and a fan club), nine to other parts of Asia, 12 to South America, three to South Africa, and 76 of Europe, including 21 tours of the United Kingdom. In the US, the company has become a regular part of the college and university circuit in addition to regular dance presentations in 49 states. They have appeared in more than 34 countries and 600 cities worldwide since its founding.

The company continues to appear in benefits for international AIDS organizations such as Dancers Responding to AIDS and Classical Action in New York City; the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria; Dancers for Life in Toronto, Canada; London's Stonewall Gala; and Germany's AIDS Tanz Gala. In addition, the Trocks have given or participated in special benefit performances for Connecticut Ballet Theater, Ballet Hawaii, Indianapolis Ballet Theater, Rochester City Ballet, Dancers in Transition (NYC), Sadler's Wells Theater in London, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Young Audiences/Arts for Learning Organization, and the Ali Forney Center.

The original concept of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo has not changed. It is a company of professional male dancers performing the full range of the ballet and modern dance repertoire, including classical and original works in faithful renditions of the manners and conceits of those dance styles. The comedy is achieved by incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, accidents, and underlying incongruities of serious dance. The fact that men dance all the parts, heavy bodies delicately balancing on toes as swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses, or angst-ridden Victorian ladies enhances rather than mocks the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting and amusing the most knowledgeable, as well as novices, in the audiences.

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